House Arrest
by PlanetIce
Summary: Scully attempts to discharge herself from hospital, worsening her injuries and infuriating Mulder.


I rounded the corner only to find another long hallway… and Mulder. _Well, shit_. "Aren't you supposed to be in your room?" He took a step towards me. I let go of the wall and straightened up, my heart racing. _You're a grown woman, this is not a prison, you can leave whenever you want. It's just Mulder. Calm down. _ "I – umm, I thought you were going out for coffee." He grinned. "I changed my mind halfway there. Lucky, right? I'm sure you could use some help getting back to your room." His smile dropped and he took another step towards me. "Unless that's not where you were going?"  
I sighed. "Okay, I realize this looks bad. But come on, I have work to do–"  
"It can wait. Right now we're going back to your room."  
"Mulder–"  
"You can walk, or I can carry you, but you're going back to your room. I'm not going to argue with you about this, Scully."  
"I will not be treated like a child! If I want to be discharged–"  
"You're not going anywhere except back to your room. Move your ass, _now_." I glared at him and took a step backwards. He laughed. "You don't seriously think you could outrun me right now, do you? Scully, come on." I ignored him, spinning around and taking off down the hallway. I made it about three meters before he caught up to me, one arm wrapping around my waist and the other scooping up my legs.  
"I didn't think you'd seriously make a run for it, Jesus Scully." And then we were moving back down the hallway, in the opposite direction of the front doors.  
"Fuck you, Mulder" I spat, squirming in his hold. He tightened his grip, and I cried out as pain shot through my ribs.  
"Mulder – Mulder, please" I gasped, clutching my ribs where blood was spreading across my shirt.  
"What did I tell you?" he asked furiously as he strode into my room, lowering me onto the bed and pressing the nurse call button. I sat up and he pushed me back down as the nurse came in. The last thing I heard was Mulder explaining what had happened.

I was woken up by a jarring pain in my wrist. After rubbing the sleep out of my eyes I discovered that I was handcuffed to a hospital bed. I rattled the handcuffs in disbelief – yeah, I wasn't going anywhere – and pressed the nurse call button. Mulder appeared in the doorway a moment later.  
"Mulder – are you fucking serious? You can't – you can't just fucking handcuff me to a hospital bed. This is _illegal_. Undo these right now!"  
"Well if you'd just fucking stay put and wait for your stitches to heal, then this wouldn't be necessary, would it?" I'd seriously underestimated how angry my 'escape attempt' had made him. "So you're going to stay right here, handcuffs and all, until _I'm_ satisfied that you're not going to hurt yourself trying to escape a fucking hospital. Am I clear?"  
"Mulder-"  
"Do I make myself clear?"  
"Okay, yes, but-"  
"I have some paperwork to take care of, but I'll be back later, alright?" And then he was gone, and I was alone in my hospital room.

Mulder was back four hours later, with coffee. We drank in silence for a few minutes before I started in on my rehearsed speech. "Look, Mulder, I'm sorry about earlier. I am. But I'm seriously swamped with work at the moment and if I can just get home then I'll be fine! I'll be able to do everything on my laptop, in bed, I won't have to move at all. I do realize that the stitches will take a while to heal but I don't need to be in the hospital; I really don't. So please be reasonable and take off the handcuffs."  
"Sorry, sweetheart" _I hate it when you call me sweetheart_ "but my mind's made up. The handcuffs come off when the stitches come out."  
"Okay. Get out. Seriously, Mulder, get out. I'm so mad at you right now-"  
"You're mad at me? Are you fucking kidding? You passed out from blood loss trying to leave the hospital and you're mad at me? I'm mad at you! Jesus _Christ_ Scully, what is wrong with you? You know - you're right, I should leave." And then I was alone again, fuming.


End file.
